Date

4-2021

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Chair

Susan Quindag

Keywords

Title IX, Employee, Perceptions, Phenomenology

Disciplines

Education | Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand employee perceptions of Title IX through participants’ lived experiences at Small Public College. The transcendental phenomenological design for this study was be grounded in the phenomenological approach of Moustakas (1994) as it enables the researcher to investigate the lived experiences of participants related to a central phenomenon. The central research question guiding the study was what are the employee perceptions of Title IX at Small Public College? The study utilized three instruments: interviews, focus group, and document analysis. Fifteen participants were interviewed. Six participants were in the focus group. Data collection took place in March 2021. Interviews and focus group sessions were recorded during collection and later transcribed. Data analysis consisted of memoing followed by axial and lean coding. The study yielded four themes: questioning knowledge, training, retaliation, and reporting and compliance. The experience a college employee gains directly influences their perceptions of Title IX. Their experiences consist of the Title IX training, the distributed Title IX materials they see, and the information they hear. Employees were not confident in their knowledge of Title IX. College employees were entirely without knowledge of Title IX-related campus jurisprudence procedures. Their training lacked pertinent and updated examples. Student retaliation was a fear of college employees; however, college employees thought that Small Public College is compliant with Title IX. Future research is recommended into different educational institution demographics as well as studies that explore college employee perceptions of Title IX and campus jurisprudence.

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